Greater Lynn sisters welcome adoptive parents

SALEM – Rudy and Sheryl Caruso’s family just increased in size by three.The big-hearted Haverhill couple, parents of two sons – Michael, 20, and Anthony, 16 – adopted three girls from Greater Lynn Friday during a ceremony at the Essex County Juvenile Court in Salem.The Carusos were among several sets of parents to officially adopt a total of 11 children on the sixth annual National Adoption Day in Essex County.For Sheryl Caruso, the day rekindled her childhood memories. “I was adopted, too,” she said, noting that her adoptive parents, Shirley and Walter, lived in Lynn before moving to Peabody, where she was raised.The Caruso’s new daughters – Cynthia, 10, Kaitlynn, 8, and Kloie, 5 – have been living in different foster homes, sometimes all together, sometimes individually. Their biological parents were from the Lynn area.The Carusos were planning to adopt children from China, but after the Asian nation signed the World Trade Agreement, the process slowed and became more complicated. Facing world opinion for its negative attitude toward baby girls, Chinese officials began encouraging local adoptions instead of offering the children to foreign parents. That was over a year ago and left the Carusos discouraged. But the situation changed unexpectedly. The couple’s son, Anthony, a sophomore at St. John’s Prep, coincidentally played in the same basketball league as Manny O’Shea, whose father, Chris, is an adoption agency supervisor.”It was a setup,” said Rudy Caruso, laughing at how easy it was to meet his new daughters.Jordan’s Furniture was holding an adoption party in July 2008. The three girls attended, as did the Carusos. It was love at first sight.”Once we met them, we knew,” said Sheryl Caruso, who works for a software development company. “We’re excited to bring them home”But first, the entire family – grandparents, mom, dad, two sons and three daughters – were headed to Prince Pizza for a celebratory Friday lunch.”We’re starting all over,” said Rudy Caruso, a Varian Semi-conductor employee. “The girls may have been in foster homes, but we’re their forever home.”Adoptions took place in eight courts across the state Friday as judges signed the petitions of 212 children.